Message from the Headteacher 29 April 2022

12th May 2022Miss T Carnaby

Dear Parents & Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.

We have had an excellent week back at Dr Thomlinson’s following the Easter Holidays.

Year 8s take part in The Mock Trial Competition

The Mock Trial Competition is Young Citizens longest-running active citizenship experience.  It provides unparalleled exposure to the criminal justice system and access to senior legal professionals. Year 8s from Dr Thomlinson took part in this on Monday, April 25th and, in doing so, played all of the key roles involved in a criminal trial: from lawyers to witnesses.

Each year children have to imagine they are part of an actual court case – this year the criminal offence was imagining that a student was charged with the offence of Harassment contrary to Section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act of 1997 and they pursued a course of conduct which amounts to harassment of another, and which she knew or ought to know amounted to harassment of the other.   The case centred around threatening and abusive emails . Our team had to provide both a prosecution and a defence team as well as the defendants; witnesses and court ushers and magistrates.  Our team then conducted a “mock trial” which was observed and marked by an independent judge.

Dr Thomlinson School competed against Coombe Girls’ School and gave an exceptional performance and, although we did not win overall, the team can be very proud of their efforts.  Well done to Luke; Sasha; Imogen; Daisy; Isaac; Aaron; Isla; Ryan; Rose; Max; Esme; Demi; Kate and Jasmine.

On Friday, the team visited London where they will be getting the opportunity to have a guided tour around the Houses of Parliament so that they can see where our laws are made.  We would like to congratulate all of the students that were involved especially, on their hard work and amazing attitude throughout the competition and the many weeks of preparation!

Key Stage Three Girls Football

The football season for our Key Stage Three girls continued on Tuesday with games against Chantry Middle School and Walker.  The team played very well and scored their first goal of the season following a clever reverse pass by Emily to Maisie who drove the ball home emphatically.  Unfortunately this was our only goal in a narrow 1-3 defeat against Chantry.  The team also lost to an excellent Walker side.  I was so impressed by all our team’s efforts.

TOP Awards Week beginning April 25th

The core value for this week was Trust

5T – Finley

5H – Jessica

6O – Hylton

6M – Lucy

7I – Chloe

7L – Hannah

8N – Harry

8S – George

TOP Awards Week beginning April 4th

The core value for this week was Compassion

5T – Jack

5H – River

6O – Jayden

6M – Xanthe

7I – Millie

7L – Edward

8N – Isaac

8S – Sam

Well done to all of these award winners.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

Message from the Headteacher – 1.4.22

1st April 2022Miss T Carnaby

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.

It has been a great week at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

Our Year 5 children really enjoyed their trip to All Saints Church, Rothbury.  The visit further helped our Year 5 understand the story of Easter – an activity that helped to enrich their cultural capital.

Well done to our House Captains who led and organised our House Point Reward shop – it was lovely to see so many children enjoying the rewards of their hard work.

The school also enjoyed the Collective Worships planned and written by our Collective Worship Monitors in 60 and 7I.  I was especially impressed with the presentation skills of Will in 7I.

 

Easter Service Thursday 7th April 1;40pm

Parents/Carers are very welcome to join the school in our Easter Service at All Saints Church, Rothbury on Thursday, April 7th.  It will be lovely to be able to celebrate Easter as a school and it would be lovely to be joined by Parents/Carers.

 

TOP Awards Week beginning March 28th

5T – Leon

5H – Matthew

6O – River

6M – Flynn

7I – Sarah

7L – Oliver

8N – Daisy

8S – Demi

 

Our P&Q winner this week was George in Yr 8.

 

Well done to all of these award winners.

 

I hope you have an enjoyable weekend.

Take care,

Liam

Message from the Headteacher – 25 March 2022

25th March 2022Miss T Carnaby

Dear Parents/Carers,
I hope this email finds you well. It has been a busy fortnight at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

Dr Thomlinson raises £540 for Comic Relief
On March 18th we raised a very impressive £540 for Comic Relief. It was lovely to see the many activities that pupils devised to raise money – activities that ranged from cake sales to a skipping challenge; a balance board challenge; Guess the Sweet Flavour; Decorate a Cupcake; a Raffle and A Coconut Shy. Our Young Sports Leaders also ran a series of Sports Day Challenges with Egg and Spoon Races; a 3 Legged Race; a Sack Race; a Slide Jump and a Vertical Jump. Children also organised a Wet Sponge Challenge to which I gallantly offered my services to be a recipient of – fortunately our children are better academics than throwers of wet sponges so I remained relatively unharmed from this experience.

Dr Thomlinson Football
Well done to our U13 Boys Football Team and our U11 Girls Football team who competed in three matches over the last fortnight. Both our teams lost to very good Newminster teams.
Unfortunately both matches against Newminster ended with no goals scored by Dr Thomlinson but there were goals galore in last Monday’s game against Blyth where our U13 Boys team took Blyth to the wire in a close and thrilling 3-4 defeat. Goals by Lewis and Joey took us level with a strong and physical Blyth team. Then, following two quick goals by Blyth, a wonderful solo effort by George who weaved past four players before calmly steering a shot just inside the keeper’s far post – gave us a thrilling final five minutes where we pushed for an equaliser but which left us enjoying glorious defeat. George’s goal was the best goal I’ve had the pleasure of seeing by a Dr Thomlinson pupil – well done.

Dr Thomlinson takes part in Lit Quiz
On March 18th we had two teams take part in the Regional Lit Quiz Competition. Our children did very well in this Literary Quiz. With over 50 teams competing our Yr 8 team finished a very respectable joint 8: well done to Demi, Noah, Isaac, Isla and Imogen. Our Yr 7 team finished an equally impressive 20th – well done to Toby, Harriet, Freya, Findlay and Luke

TOP Awards – Over the last three weeks we have awarded our Thomlinson Outstanding Pupil Awards to pupils demonstrating our core values of: Friendship; Wisdom and Reverence.

Week beginning 7/3/2022 – Friendship
5T – Yasmine
5H – Henry
6O – Alfie
6M – Dillan
7I – Gus
7L – Oliver
8N – Imogen
8S – Daniel

Week beginning 14/3/2022 – Wisdom
5T – Annabelle
5H – India
6O – Emma
6M – Max
7I – James
7L – James
8N – Heather
8S – Lewis

Week beginning 21/3/22 – Reverence
5T – Liam & Lucinda
5H – Emily
6O – Daisy Lou
6M – Adam
7I – Freya
7L – Ben
8N – Katie
8S – Isla

P&Q Award Winner this week – Ava in Year 5.

I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Take care,
Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

Message from the Headteacher – 11 March 2022

11th March 2022Miss T Carnaby

Dear Parents/Carers,

It has been a great two weeks at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

School Football

Well done to our Boys Key Stage Two and Key Stage Three Football teams who took part in fixtures over the last week.

Friday March 18th Comic Relief

Please be aware that next Friday is Comic Relief and children will be able to come to school in Fancy Dress.  Children are asked to make a voluntary contribution of £1

World Book Day – Thursday, March 3rd, 2022

We all enjoyed our World Book Day on Thursday 3 March and there were a number of competitions for children to enter.

The first was for children to decorate a potato as their favourite character from literature.

Y5:Potatoes: 1st-Jack who painted Christian Ronaldo, 2nd-Hannah who painted – Gertrude from Code Name Bananas, joint 3rd-Layla  who painted Harry Potter, Rosie  who painted- Cheshire Cat

Y6 Potatoes: 1st- Max PP who painted- Gandalf, 2nd:TJ who painted- Bison Boy, 3rd Ceci  who painted- Ugly Duckling

KS3 Potatoes: Joint 1st: Sarah Duffin who painted- Napoleon (From Animal Farm), Elsa  who painted- Anne of Green Gables – 2nd Alex  who painted – Slime

The next competition was for children to paint a stone illustrating  who painted favourite book cover.

Y5: Stones: 1st- Rosie  who painted- Harry Potter, 2nd- Gabrielle  who painted-Secret Garden, 3rd-Leon  who painted- White Fang

Y6: Stones: 1st-Eva  who painted- Charlie and Chocolate Factory, 2nd Sam  who painted- The Silver Pony, 3rd- Toby  who painted- Ladybird, ladybird

We had some wonderful entries in this competition and it has become something of a Dr Thomlinson’s tradition!

The next competition was for children to take a photo of a parent/relative reading their favourite book in an unusual position/place.

Well done to:

1st Joey, 2nd Edward, Joint 3rd Jonah &, India

The next competition was for children to write a book review of your favourite book.

Well done to Amelia and Luke who won this competition

There will be prizes for the best potatoes, stones, reviews and photos. The closing date for all entries is Thursday 3 March.

Children were also invited to come to school in Costumes dressed as a character from Literature:

Best Costumes: KS2: 1st- Ava- Mary Poppins,  joint 2nd- Maddiey- Bessie & Lewis – Boy in a Dress joint 3rd:  Miles and Nick- Robinson Crusoe & an evacuee from Eagle in the Snow

Costumes: KS3: 1st- Freya- Alex Rider, 2nd Esme – Cher 3rd -Luke as a character from fiction

Headteacher’s prize for Great Costume went to Isla

Well done to all of these award winners.  We all really enjoyed the day – thanks for all your great support.

International Women’s Day of Prayer

Tuesday 8th March was International Women’s Day and our school always celebrates this event by taking part in the International Women’s Day of Prayer.  The service this time was at All Saints Church in Rothbury.  Each year the event celebrates a particular country and people from this country write the Church Service in which we all take part.  This year the country was the United Kingdom.

It was lovely to be able to take children once again to a Church Service and I was very impressed with the singing of our school choir – I couldn’t remember a time when they had sounded better; it was beautiful.  I was especially moved by their rendition of “Make Me A Channel of Your Peace”.

Ukrainian Refugee Crisis

We have spent time in School Worship talking about and praying for the people caught up in the humanitarian crisis caused by the Russian Invasion of Ukraine.  Children have asked how we can help these people and in response to this we have collected donations of clothing and basic supplies in conjunction with the donation centre at All Saints Church, Rothbury.  Thank you to all those who donated.

We have also looked at the importance of friendship and empathy with others as a way in which each of us can help make peace in our families; friendship groups; school and wider community.  We realise that this is a difficult time.  We do have support available for children and if parents/carers wish to contact the school to discuss this further then please do not hesitate to do so.  Our thoughts and prayers are with those families affected by this terrible crisis.

I hope you have a good weekend.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher, Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School

Emergency Support for Refugees

8th March 2022Miss T Carnaby

Dr Thomlinson’s are supporting the local collection of items to support refugees from Ukraine in Poland.  All items will be taken to All Saint’s Church, Rothbury.

We are looking for donations of:

Personal hygiene items, such as deoderant, soap, shower gel, shampoo, hair conditioner, hairbrushes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, face or hand cream.

Items for children, such as colouring books, crayons, small puzzles, soft toys.

Food items, such as sweets, baby food, packet food, canned food, paper towels, cutlery, disposable plates.

Other items, such as sleeping bags, mats, blankets, powerbanks, batteries, torches, new items of clothing.

 

 

Message from the Headteacher – 18.2.22

18th February 2022Miss T Carnaby

Dear Parents & Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.  It has been a productive week at Dr Thomlinson CofE Middle School.

Trip to Barter Books

On Tuesday a group of keen readers led by a number of pupil school librarians went on a trip to Barter Books to restock our 50 Book Reading Challenge (a reading challenge that our Year 8s take part in).  Mrs Lamont said that she was really impressed with the attitude of all the children who went on the trip.  I was especially pleased as I was presented  – on the trip’s return – with a hardback copy of The Sea by John Banville (my current favourite author) that the children had found during their trip.

Youth Parliament Elections

Children at Dr Thomlinson Middle School took part in the Northumberland Youth Elections on Thursday, 17th February.  The children voted for candidates for both the Youth Northumberland Parliament and the Youth Northumberland Cabinet.  A huge thank you to our School House Captains who organised the whole process at our school.  They were very helpful and the voting was completed very successfully.  It was great to see so many of our children involved in this important democratic process.

30 Lucky Children win a free book

Courtesy of Vision Education we had 30 copies to give away of the excellent book: “You are a champion – how to be the best you can be” by Marcus Rashford.  We conducted a prize draw during Celebration Worship and 30 pupils drawn from the hat won a copy of this highly recommended book.

World Book Day News

Thursday, March 3rd is World Book Day and Mrs Watson updates on our school activities below:

World Book Day celebrations are beginning straight after half term. Although the actual day is Thursday 3 March, we are starting early!  Firstly, we have four competitions that the children can choose from and complete over half-term if they wish:

  1.  Decorate a potato as your favourite character from literature.

  2.  Paint a stone illustrating your favourite book cover.

We have had some wonderful entries in the past and it has become something of a Dr T’s tradition!

  1. Take a photo of a parent/relative reading their favourite book in an unusual position/place.

  2. Write a book review of your favourite book.

There will be prizes for the best potatoes, stones, reviews and photos. The closing date for all entries is Thursday 3 March.

We know that some students enjoy to dress up or face paint as a favourite character. It will be lovely to see you in role on the day, but please do not feel the need to spend money on expensive costumes- be creative with your disguise! There will be prizes for this too. Also, every child will receive a £1 voucher to exchange for a special WBD book, or money off a book of their choice from participating shops.

Author Events

There are other various activities planned for celebrating World Book Day. One event we are especially looking forward to is acclaimed author, Emma Carroll, dropping in for a ‘virtual visit’  on Wednesday, 2 March. We were lucky enough to scoop this opportunity when we signed up to complete a whole school Readathon in the summer term.

We are expanding our School Library

Other exciting news is that we have increased the number and range of books in the Library, both fiction and non-fiction. All pupils are now visiting the School Library in their tutor groups at least once per month, and of course, it is open every lunchtime for all.

Hopefully there is something here for everyone,  including parents!

Thank you to Mrs Watson and everyone at our school – adults and children alike who do so much to further develop our strong culture of reading.

TOP Award Winners for Week beginning 14th February

The theme for this week was Creation

5T – Violet

5H Hannah

6O Lily & Poppie

6M – Jessica

7I – Michael

7L – Toby

8N – Alexander

8S – George

P&Q Winner Week beginning 14th February – Emily in Yr 6

Well done to these award winners

I hope you have a good weekend and a restful half term.  We look forward to seeing all our pupils back at school on Monday, 28th February.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher

 

Message from the Headteacher 11 February 2022

11th February 2022Miss T Carnaby

Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope this email finds you well.

This week we have celebrated Children’s Mental Health Week.  The theme for this year is “Growing Together” and the theme recognises that we are always growing, both physically and emotionally and that part of this growth can involve times when we encounter difficulties or failure. To help support our children in their growth we have looked at  “Growth Stories”.  These stories (found via this link) show that Human beings change and grow – we do it all the time and in many ways. Emotional growth is often a gradual process that happens over time, and sometimes we might feel a bit ‘stuck’. At these times, we are reminded of how much we need others in our lives to help us to keep growing.

In exclusive interviews with presenter and Place2Be Ambassador Josh Smith, familiar faces from the world of TV, music and sport have shared their stories of emotional growth with us.

These videos can be used in class, or at home with your child, to help start a conversation about growth and the different challenges we may face.

We have also looked at the importance of kindness in supporting well being.  “Kindness is a silent smile.  A friendly word. A nod of encouragement.  Kindness is the single most powerful thing we can teach others”.  Therefore everyday this week we have looked at the importance of remembering  that acts of kindness can have such a positive impact..  Just always saying hello to other people or always being ready to smile or nod a greeting is being kind. These small gestures are not huge things that will take up time in our day but they are things that make a real difference to how other people feel.

Prayer for Children’s Mental Health Week

Dear Lord,

Everyone is going through their own struggles.  Help us to recognise that everyone around is growing both physically and metally.  People around us will sometimes be worried and sad; people around us will sometimes be scared and feel vulnerable.  Let us all realise that we can best help people; we can best grow together; we can best help people flourish by being kind, friendly and respectful with each other throughout our school day.

Amen

TOP Award Winners for Week beginning 7th February

The theme for this week was Trust

5T – Abi

5H Nicholas

6O Eva

6M – T-Jay

7I – Sarah

7L – Lily

8N – Lucy

8S – Skye

P&Q Winner Week beginning 31st January  – Emily in Yr 7

P&Q Winner Week beginning 7th February – George in Yr 8

Well done to these award winners.

Take care,

Liam Murtagh – Headteacher